The Demon He's Running From
by CoraTribal
Summary: He meets her on the battlefield in Belarus, his Death Goddess, and hopes in vain to never meet her again.


"The only demon worse than he is, is the one he's running from" ~Fergus

The Demon He's Running From

Prologue

Present Day

Hal woke gasping, his wrists rubbed raw from the straps. His neck and shoulders ached horribly from falling asleep in the chair. At least his nighttime struggles hadn't dislocated his shoulders this time. He had dreamt of her again. That Death Goddess. He never feared the men with sticks and ropes. But when they faded away, he had seen Her. She stood tall and Black against the sun, and he had trembled. The drifting motes of ash swirling around them seemed to stand still, as if even they were afraid to draw near her. She had stood over him, lance in hand. Idly he wondered if it had been her lance that pierced him. He looked into her eyes, because he was too afraid to look away. Her violet eyes regarded him with disdain. For a moment, he believed she would kill him. End his eternal life right there and then. Destroy him. But after a terrible, icy moment, she withdrew her lance, and walked away. Vanished into the ether. He wondered now, as he had always wondered, why she had spared his life, and whether she would return one day to end him.

England 1855

The chains fastened around the girl's wrists with a snap. She was fourteen, had just turned fourteen this spring. Her long black hair flowed freely down her back and shoulders. Harry sneered at her, pulled her head back by her hair to look at her face. "You're very pretty," he said softly to her. The light from the barred window spilled across her face, revealing deep purple eyes, with a golden ring around the pupils. She glared at him, but did not speak. "But defiant, aren't you?" He tilted his head and continued to stare at her. He had seen those eyes before. But no, it was impossible. "What is your name, girl?" She stared at him, and did not answer. Harry let a low growl escape him, and his eyes bled black. His fangs descended. He pulled up her skirts roughly, and drove into her violently. She did not cry out, and no tears fell from those cold eyes. "Are you mute? Is that it?" He was angry now. The girl made no noise as he took her, she only glared at him unblinking. Her expression never changed from that terrible look of disdain. His anger gave way to something more primal as he satisfied himself. Two things occurred to him simultaneously in his moment of climax. One, that he was no longer hungry, and that was curious, wasn't it? And two, he was afraid. Not merely afraid, but terrified. He collapsed on top of her, holding himself up by her chained arms. He let out a nervous laugh into her ear. "I'm no longer hungry, but Fergus is going to have some fun with you." She finally spoke. "He won't be hungry either." She said it with such certainty that it unnerved Harry. He turned, trousers still unbuttoned, and left the room, slamming the door behind him.

"Lord Harry.." Harry looked up at Fergus. "You didn't eat her either then?" Fergus looked a little too clean, and a little too unnerved to have done anything to the girl. "About that. I think she's the one Regus told me to keep an eye out for." Harry raised an eyebrow. "When did he tell you this?" Fergus shifted uncomfortably. "About fifty-odd years ago." Harry stared at him for a long time. Finally, he sighed, and said, "I know it's been awhile since you were human, but that girl is what? thirteen, fourteen? They age you know." Fergus didn't dare object. "What does Regus want with her?" "He didn't tell me, but he looked all terrified and was adamantly telling me if I ever find a girl with her description 'DON'T. KILL. HER'" He mimicked Regus so well that had he been in a better mood, Harry might have laughed. "Where is the old windbag now?" "Think he's in Richmond." Harry pointed at Fergus. "You, stay here. I'm gonna take that girl to Regus and get him to talk." He stormed back down to the cellar. The girl sneered at him. "Told you he wouldn't be hungry. You gonna kill me, or are you here to rape me again?" He flinched, and then recovered himself. "I hadn't thought of that," he said calmly, "but maybe I will if you don't behave yourself. I'm taking you to Richmond." "Why?" He glared at her. "Because you're a loose end, and I don't like loose ends. But I've been told my kind has an embargo on killing you. We're going to go to the man who passed down those orders and ask him why we can't kill you." Why was he explaining things to this child? She was silent for a long while as Harry unlocked the chain from her left arm, and attached it to his own arm. "Maybe it's because your kind don't get hungry around me." Harry froze. "You've been around my kind before?" "My father sometimes had them as guests, and I would have to share a room with them." "Then, you've been raped by my kind before?" An uncomfortable feeling was twisting inside Harry's gut. "No. None of them have your tastes." She was giving him that look of disgust and disdain again. "Have you looked in a mirror lately? You're a woman now." He gestured to her growing breasts and hips, and she flushed, whether from anger or embarrassment he couldn't tell.

"This is it." The driver's voice startled Harry out of his reverie, and he realized he had been staring at the girl during the whole carriage ride. He looked out, and saw a very ramshackle looking cottage. It occurred to him that it was only slightly less shabby than the man who inhabited it. He pulled the girl along, and held her with one arm as he banged on the door. Regus opened it, and Harry shoved the girl in front of him. "Ahh!" Regus backpedalled into the room, looking terrified. "Regus. I've come to ask you, what is THIS? And why are we not supposed to kill it?" "Are you crazy, bringing her here?" Regus hissed, and then fell silent as the sudden realization of who exactly he was talking to hit. "Might as well come in, now that you're here. There's only one chair, but you can sit on the bed." Harry brought the girl over to the bed and sat down. She hesitated for a moment, and then sat down beside him. "So, what is she?" "What do you think she is?" "I don't have time for your games, Regus. But she looks like that creature I met on the battlefield. Orsha. Black armor, a helmet fitted with raven feathers, and a lance pointed uncomfortably close to my person.""SHE let you LIVE?" Regus was truly beside himself. "Were you a vampire yet?" Harry nodded. "I had just been turned." Regus shook his head slowly. "Her name is Hrist. She has a vendetta against all vampires. It's unthinkable for her to allow one to live. As for the girl, she is the human incarnation of Hrist. The Valkyrie's soul is sleeping inside her. The reason we don't want her dead, is because as long as she's living as a human, the Valkyrie is trapped in sleep. We don't want her to return and kill us all." Harry looked at the girl, who had assumed the inward stare of a person in a trance, or daydreaming. Regus looked at her then. "What's your name, girl?" The girl shook herself and replied, "Leone." Regus turned back to Harry. "I'm afraid you're going to have to take the girl as your charge. You ate her family, after all. And according to my records, in a few years you're due for one of your dry spells." Harry laughed bitterly. "Yes. I can feel him starting to wake already. He's such a tiresome bore. Wait, what? Take the girl as my charge? Are you out of your mind?"

"What did that strange man mean by dry spell?" It had been such a long time since she had spoken, that Harry almost jumped. "I go  
through periods where I don't drink blood, and try to be human and not kill anyone. It's terribly exhausting and dull." "It would be  
easier for you though, wouldn't it? Because when you're around me, you're not hungry." Harry scoffed. "Don't tell me you're actually  
entertaining this idea?" "Being around you makes me sick. You're a disgusting pervert and a horrible conscience-less freak.  
But..how many lives will I save by being around you all the time?" He looked at her incredulously. "I'm quite different when I'm the  
Other Me. You might actually like him." She glared at him. "I could never like any part of you. Not after what you did to me" she  
spat out vehemently.


End file.
